Deftones: New Album Loading, New Single Released

Deftones. A name known and loved by all. my mind is a mountain: their newest single, released today. It’s been hinted that this was coming, yet the long-anticipated album is still a small distance away– set to drop Aug. 22. Months ago, the band shared how excited they were to unveil this latest masterpiece, produced by the familiar Nick Raskulinecz... and now, the process has finally begun. private music will be their 10th album, and some would say that this latest single is just a teaser for what the album could entail. So let’s get into it and let’s get a feel for what they’ve been brewing over these last five years.

Deftones has a classic recipe. One that never falters. One that works. Do they alter it? Absolutely. We can see that in more experimental albums like Ohms, but regardless of if there’s more or less — it always works. The proof is in the insane number of listeners this band has, and the respect and pride on the name. Deftones will always have this effect of raw and weighted feeling on you. This song does nothing different than what’s been working for them over decades. This band is the definition of consistency.

The intro is paced and strong, march-like and leading into the melody, which is just this flawless canvas awaiting Chino’s dragged and distorted vocals. Reverb for days. Instrumentally, the sound is crisp and delivers that classic Deftones feel. There’s a faint indiscernible background vocal that sets such an element in eeriness — it elevates the chorus just higher than what it already is. A small detail to point out. But the smoothness eventually crashes, and Chino delivers harsh and aggressive vocals during the chorus.

Lyrically, Deftones has always been a favorite of mine. I love the use of open-ended type lyrics — they are just vague enough to be interpreted by the individual without not having any relation at all. I see threads with Deftones song interpretations, and it’s really next-level seeing the different variations. This song's lyrics feel, to me, like internal battles within oneself, although sung as if there are two opposing forces. Something that the listener may want to experience personally while listening to them and discern on their own.

Moody and entrancing — this song is musically haunting, and I feel like that word gets used often for music, but it really is just that. It is dark and it reminds me of a storm: crashes like thunder, but steady like the rain. But man, when this song ends, it leaves you kicking the air because it all feels too quick. As soon as you’ve settled in, it’s over, and now we’re stuck thinking — when the hell can we get more? The song is picturesque in the way that it evokes feeling. It is one thing to listen to a song and jam to the beat or know every lyric, but with this song, it’s almost like it’s just a force that draws what you’re feeling out of you. Truly an out-of-body experience every time. How do they even begin to come up with such things? In an interview the band had with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Chino had this to say about that very question:

“I come up with melodies first before anything, like cadence sometimes and sort of like the vocal rhythms maybe, but mostly just melodies... almost every song that we've ever recorded. I've just have my headphones on and I have a microphone and then I just start going and it's usually– not all the time, but a lot of times– that what ends up on the album is usually very close to like my first instinct of what notes I choose to go to … it comes from someplace...” — Chino Moreno

Overall, the song is magic. Is it a huge change or an absolute identity reinvention? Not exactly. It’s honestly just purely Deftones. And them just existing and creating is a gift itself. This band has been successful since the dawn of time with day one listeners and is maybe even more relevant now with the accumulation of younger generations and new listeners. They are not going anywhere. Deftones created that raw alternative sound that inspires so many other artists in music as well as other forms of art. We just know this new album is something to look forward to just based off of this. This first single, my mind is a mountain, is fantastic, and I hate to hear it end. The next round of headline dates begin on Aug. 22 — the same day private music releases — in Vancouver, B.C., starting with Phantogram and The Barbarians of California.